Symbols of Undying Love
by Relinquished
Summary: When they were six years old, TK left Japan to travel around the world with his parents. He made a promise to Kari that every year, on March 3 he would send her chocolates from wherever he was. But twenty years on, would things be the same? completed
1. Chapter One

Symbols of Undying Love  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon  
  
Summary: When they were six years old, TK left Japan to travel around the world with his parents. He made a promise to Kari that every year, on March 3 he would send her chocolates from wherever he was. But twenty years on, would things be the same?  
  
A/N: this isn't part of the original storyline so bear with me. It's a sweet, fluffy fic based on one of Digimon's cutest couples! TAKARI! I watched this music video/movie thing by this Canto singer and I thought that one of the particular stories was really sweet, so I decided to write about it.  
  
ENJOY!  
  
---- Symbols of Undying Love ----  
  
~ Twenty Years Ago ~  
  
"Aw, Kari, don't cry."  
  
"But - but you're leaving TK!"  
  
The small, blonde haired boy patted her awkwardly on the shoulder and produced, from his school shirt pocket, a small, colourfully wrapped candy. Carefully, he placed it on the desk in front of the crying girl, just within her eyesight. Gradually, her cries became muffled sobs, and then sniffles.  
  
"My mum says that girls don't look pretty when they cry," he said matter-of- factly. "She also said that girls should always smile."  
  
She kept sniffling, rubbing her eyes with her fists furiously. He sighed.  
  
"If you don't stop crying, I'm going to take the candy away."  
  
After that, the mouse-brown haired girl stopped sniffling immediately. She wiped away the tears and stains, before looking up at him with her large, soulful eyes. He motioned to the candy and nodded. She took it from the table slowly, unwrapped it and popped the chocolate into her mouth. Then she flattened the wrapper out onto the table, the colourful side face-up, and saw a large smiley face drawn onto it with a black marker.  
  
"You should smile more," TK told her. "Mum says you look really pretty when you smile."  
  
And she did. It was even more radiant and cheerful than her usual ones and her chocolate brown eyes shone happily. Then it faded slightly.  
  
"But I won't get to see you again," she whispered. "When you go around the world with your mum and dad and big brother, I won't get to see you. I'll miss you TK."  
  
"I'll miss you too, Kari," he said sadly.  
  
Then he looked at the blackboard at the front of the classroom. More precisely, at the date on the board. March 3, 1993. His baby blue eyes lit up as an idea occurred to him. Turning back to Kari, he pointed one hand to the board.  
  
"Why don't we make today, March 3, 'chocolate day'?" he suggested brightly. "I promise you that every year, on this day, I'll send you a BIG -" he spread his little arms out as wide as possible in a childish way of expressing 'big' " - box of chocolates from wherever I am. And my letter will be written on the wrapper of every single chocolate."  
  
"Then it'll be like a puzzle!" she added happily, smiling again. "Okay! But - I still won't be able to see you, will I? You'll still be away."  
  
"I promise that when I grow up and earn lots and lots of money, I'll come back and find you. But you have to wait for me, okay? Pinkie promise?"  
  
She made a noise of agreement while nodding her head furiously and they linked their small pinkies in their own, special, 'pinkie promise'.  
  
~ Twenty Years Later, Kari's POV ~  
  
That was the promise we made each other, March 3, in the year 1993. I still keep my end of the promise, twenty years on, and I have no intention of breaking it. I've waited twenty years for TK and his annual box of chocolates. They've never failed to come and every year, there was a special message, just for me.  
  
But last year was different. I received his box of chocolates, as usual, but instead of the usual messages about his trips around the world, I got a short one. The other chocolate wrappers had nothing on them. I was disappointed, at first, because of the short message. But I began to piece them together all the same. I gathered up the message-wrappers and lay them out in front of me, on the floor. Slowly, the message began to form:  
  
NEXT YEAR, MARCH 3, 2013, WAIT FOR ME TO COME AND MAKE YOU MY WIFE.  
  
My heart skipped a beat. He was going to propose to me next year? Happiness flooded through me and made me all jittery and nervous. This was really happening. TK was coming back and we were going to get married. But my best friend, Yolei, however, was sceptical about the reliability of the message.  
  
"You haven't even SEEN the guy you're going to marry!" She protested.  
  
"I have so!" I retorted. "I knew him when I was six years old!"  
  
"Six years old . . ." she repeated, as if not believing it. "I mean, COME ON, Kari! That's like, what? Nineteen, twenty years ago? What happens if he's grown up to be fat and ugly and disgusting? Would you still marry him?"  
  
"Yes, I would." I think my eyes would have softened. "As long as he's still the same TK I knew when we were at school together, then yes, I would still marry him."  
  
"Ah, you're hopeless!" Yolei sighed.  
  
But I believed that TK would come for me next year and that we would get married and live the rest of our lives happily together, just like we used to. I believed, because TK was my best friend and he'd never broken a single promise he'd made to me. I was going to marry him next year and that was it. That reason alone would have been enough for me.  
  
Because I loved TK, even after twenty years of separation.  
  
---- End of Chapter One ----  
  
A/N: how was the first chapter, nee?  
  
If you liked, REVIEW!  
  
Won't say any more here.  
  
Bittersweet Angel Chika 


	2. Chapter Two

Symbols of Undying Love  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon  
  
A/N: So you liked the first chapter, huh? Well, my friend Miyuki thought it was pretty sweet, so I decided to continue it while also doing my science homework. I personally love the parts when TK and Kari were children (because the show had these two absolutely ADORABLE kids playing the parts).  
  
Anyways, hope you like this chapter!  
  
---- Chapter Two ----  
  
~ Kari's POV ~  
  
For the entire year after TK's message, I was constantly daydreaming about him and what he would be like. Yolei was right in one thing. I still didn't know what he looked like, how he'd changed and what were his habits and things like that. TK was like a stranger to me, one who sent me a large box of chocolates every year on March 3, and had done so for twenty years. He was the only one who was actually communicating - I never wrote back, because I never knew from where he sent the chocolates.  
  
Nevertheless, I stuck to my promise. I waited for him here in Japan, amusing myself daily with work and redecorating my living room with the candy-wrapper messages he'd sent me every year. I had enough to make wallpaper for an entire length of the wall now and it was a great comfort to come home every day and face the quilt of colour. By now, I had memorised every single one of TK's messages, from beginning to end and back again.  
  
REMEMBER WHEN WE WERE IN THE SCHOOL PLAY AND YOU GOT PICKED ON BY A GROUP OF KIDS PLAYING THE VEGETABLES?  
  
That message still made me laugh. I remembered, very clearly, what happened that day. I was a fairly small girl for my age back then and was constantly the butt of many jokes. The bullies all liked to pick on me for that reason. On that particular occasion, they were poking me and teasing me because I didn't get a part in the school play.  
  
"Leave her alone!" TK had said.  
  
He had scored the part of the hero and was assuming his role by dressing up as a very tiny version of the American hero, Superman. He pushed the older kids away, grabbed my hand and we ran away from them as fast as we could. Our final destination was inside the school building, where he treated me to more chocolate from his pocket. I was surprised he had still kept the wrapper from back then and had sent it over with the third message.  
  
I looked back at the photographs from the play and realised how incredibly strange it must have looked for two carrots, an apple, a cabbage and lettuce to be poking and laughing at a girl and then a Superman coming to the rescue. I told Yolei and my other friend, Sora, about the incident and we all had a good laugh about it.  
  
"I can't wait until he comes back," I told them wistfully.  
  
~ Yolei's POV ~  
  
Ever since Kari got that message from TK, she'd been acting all dreamy and floaty. There wasn't a single moment when she wasn't thinking about him, or talking about him, or even DREAMING about him. For me, I'd only known Kari since high school and I'd never even SEEN TK before. But from what Kari had told me countless times, TK had been pretty chubby when they were six years old and he loved chocolate.  
  
"He keeps lots of chocolate in his shirt pocket," she said, every time the subject of TK came up. "Every time he or I felt like one, he'd take them out and we'd eat them. Sometimes we'd play a game on the stairs. Scissors, paper, rock and the winner got a handful of the chocolate."  
  
Then she showed Sora and me the messages she'd put on the wall in her living room. We were both stunned at how devoted this TK person was to Kari and just how many chocolates he bought every year. Each wrapper had one or two words written on it in a thick, black marker and the creases were smoothed out carefully by Kari. The whole wall was covered with it by the time the last box came and Kari was as dreamy and uncoordinated as ever.  
  
"That would be three hundred and twenty dollars, miss."  
  
"Three hundred and twenty days until he comes back," Kari sighed dreamily, unaware of the waiter who was trying to give her the bill.  
  
"KARI!" I sang out, waving my hand in front of her face. "Wake up, sleeping beauty!"  
  
She jerked out of her trance, flushed and paid the bill quickly. After a quick apology from both her, and myself the waiter hurried away and I grinned at her evilly.  
  
"What?" She asked, perturbed.  
  
"Your mind's wandering all over the place," I told her. "You're not even paying attention to what you do any more. Everything's about TK, TK, TK. Get OVER yourself, girl and start living the rest of your single life with excitement! Think about him when he actually COMES."  
  
I don't think she paid much attention to me after the first sentence. Her eyes had glazed over again and she was staring out the window of the café, chin propped up on the heel of her palm. I sighed exasperatedly and sipped from my coffee cup, watching her still form. Then I got a bit bored staring at her and my eyes moved to watch a fly crawling across the opposite wall. After a while, the waiter came back with the change, which I took, and I grabbed Kari.  
  
"What?" She asked, startled.  
  
"We're GOING NOW, Kari," I told her impatiently. "Come on!"  
  
She let me drag her out of the café and out onto the street, where we walked past the shops in silence. I could tell she was dreaming again.  
  
"Kari, honey, listen," I said tiredly. "Stop thinking about TK for just ONE MOMENT and actually enjoy a nice, big shopping spree. There's a couple of shops I wanna check out before we leave and if you don't come along, I'll leave you behind."  
  
"All right, all right," she replied placidly, smiling. "I'm coming."  
  
But her mind was still, obviously, on TK.  
  
---- End of Chapter Two ----  
  
A/N: ah.......................crap!  
  
That didn't go very well, did it? Nothing really happened, only that you find out exactly what Yolei thinks about Kari's 'problem'. Not that I really IS a problem. Oh well.  
  
These chapters are going to be pretty short, because I want to finish off The Dranon Heiress as soon as possible (two chapters left!) and then I want to also finish off my Harry Potter, Neon Genesis Evangelion and my OTHER Digimon one! REMEMBER TO REVIEW!  
  
Bittersweet Angel Chika 


	3. Chapter Three

Symbols of Undying Love  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon  
  
A/N: Sorry to keep you all waiting! I was kinda preoccupied for a couple of weeks trying to finish off 'The Dranon Heiress' and also previewing the sequel to it. Then I got inspired for ANOTHER Digimon fic, which I've put up the first two chapters to and now I've got FIVE stories to finish. This fic is gonna be pretty short, ok?  
  
---- Chapter Three ----  
  
Date: March 3, 2013  
  
Kari paced up and down, in a simple white dress. Today was the day TK would return from his trips around the world and they were going to get married. Where was he? She had already picked out her wedding dress, though it was simple and almost unadorned. The only jewellery she had on was a pair of pearl earrings and a jewelled bracelet. She wore limited make-up, colours that suited her best.  
  
"Kari, maybe you should sit down," Sora suggested quietly, motioning to the seat next to her. "You're going to wear a hole in the floor if you keep this up."  
  
"Are you sure he said today?" Yolei asked, sceptical. "Maybe it was a different day."  
  
"I'm sure," Kari replied firmly. "His message said today and I believe him."  
  
"At least sit down, dear," Sora said in a motherly tone.  
  
"I'll wrinkle the dress if I do."  
  
Sora nodded, understanding, and Kari began to pace again. Yolei fiddled with a ribbon in her hair - she was wearing a light purple dress, cut in a similar style to Kari's, but her hair was tied back by numerous dark purple ribbons. Sora was wearing the same as Yolei, only that her dress was blue. The former was still rather sceptical about TK; she was a woman who only believed what was right in front of her eyes. Relying on annual messages for twenty years from a guy she hadn't seen for that twenty years wasn't really her thing.  
  
Not that she needed to. Yolei was already dating a fellow colleague named Ken and they were going pretty steadily. Ken was similar to her, down-to- earth, practical and a rather stubborn, I-won't-believe-it-till-I-see-it kind of guy. Sora was stuck between two guys - one being Kari's own older brother Tai and the other was Tai's best friend Matt. It was obvious that Sora preferred Matt, but she was too soft to hurt Tai's feelings. Besides, she and Tai DID have a brief history together.  
  
"Why don't we talk about other things to pass the time?"  
  
Kari stopped pacing and looked at her. Then she smiled gratefully.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose we should."  
  
--------  
  
When they got tired of talking - mind they covered every single topic they could think of at that particular time - it was already getting late. Three o'clock ticked past, then half past and finally four o'clock struck. Sora apologised profusely and left, saying that she had promised to meet her mother for a bit of late grocery shopping for that night's dinner. Yolei left soon after four thirty came around, having promised to meet Ken.  
  
"I'm really sorry for not being able to stay longer," she apologised.  
  
"It's okay, Yolei," Kari assured her with a small smile. "Go on, you can't keep him waiting."  
  
"Mind you," Yolei added as an afterthought, "if that TK does turn up, tell him from me that he's got some nerve to keep a lady like you waiting for so long."  
  
"I'll remember to," Kari promised with a bigger smile.  
  
When Yolei had left, she watched as the hands of the clock ticked by. She had waited for over seven hours and was beginning to doubt whether or not TK would really be coming. What if she had gotten something wrong? No, she couldn't have. The message said clearly to wait for him today, March 3, 2013. Perhaps it was just all a big joke.  
  
Six o'clock ticked by. Feeling incredibly stupid, Kari went to the bathroom and washed off the make up, while taking off the bracelet and earrings. She had the sudden, childish urge to throw them away, but refrained from doing so, knowing that she would probably regret it later on. This was all a big joke and she had fallen for it. Then she ran out into the living room at top speed, grabbing the box she had kept the last message from TK in, intending to burn it.  
  
"I can't believe I fell for it," she whispered tearfully, shaking out the contents. "I can't believe I was so STUPID . . ."  
  
When she finished shaking out the wrappers, she pieced together the message. NEXT YEAR, MARCH 3, 2013, WAIT FOR ME TO COME AND MAKE YOU MY WIFE. It was all there, no mistake at all, in big, bold letters. Furious, she turned the box back over, wanting to put all the wrappers back in, but then a silver glint caught her eye. It was another wrapper, wedged in between the cardboard. Her heart skipped a beat and she pulled it out carefully, turning it over to the back. She read the words on it and hastily put it with the message.  
  
NEXT YEAR, MARCH 3, 2013, WAIT FOR ME BACK AT SCHOOL TO COME AND MAKE YOU MY WIFE.  
  
She was to wait for him back at school? That meant - the primary school, of course! He wanted her to wait at the primary school! All that time, she had made a stupid, careless mistake and had wasted them both so much time! Grabbing a jacket and putting on her shoes hurriedly, Kari bolted out of the house.  
  
--------  
  
The tall gates were shut when Kari got there. It was already fairly dark, as she lived quite far away. When she approached them carefully, she could see it was decorated with strings of chocolates and other candies, draped over the railings and across the walls. Hesitantly, she pushed open the gates, which were unlocked.  
  
"Excuse me!" a male voice panted.  
  
It was a chubby looking man with thick rimmed glasses and who was at least a head shorter than she was. Kari felt fear grip her at the same time the thought that this man was TK. However, she maintained a straight face as she turned around to face him.  
  
"Are you someone I know?" she asked slowly.  
  
"No, I don't think so," he gasped. "I'm here for the wedding. I was wondering - do you know where the bathroom is?"  
  
"Sorry, I don't," Kari said quickly, a grin spreading on her face.  
  
She raced through the main gates of the school, letting her legs and her heart take her wherever they saw fit, while her mind was on TK. He hadn't lied to her. He was back, inside the school, waiting for her to come. Her heart soared and leapt with the joy of it all. TK had never lied to her! Then her legs stopped running.  
  
The basketball court was deserted and dark. Why had she come here? Looking slightly crestfallen, she caught her breath. When she straightened again, lights suddenly began to turn on to either sides of her. Red lanterns, strung up on the fences around the court, were leading down to the opposite end of it, taking her gaze with it.  
  
"I was waiting."  
  
Kari sucked in her breath. The speaker was a young man, tall and lean, with messy blonde hair and startlingly blue eyes. He was dressed in a smart black suit, polished shoes to match and looked incredibly out of place with the basketball court. His lips twitched into an amused grin at her expression of disbelief.  
  
--------  
  
"Y - You're TK?" she asked.  
  
"The one and only," he replied, with a mock bow. "So, what took you so long?"  
  
"I - I . . ."  
  
She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Tears began to form in her eyes, whether with joy or relief, she couldn't tell. Nor could she really care. TK produced something from his shirt pocket and tossed it to her. She caught it with both hands, surprised that she could through her tears, and found herself presented with a bright red candy-wrapper, around something that was larger than usual.  
  
"Girls don't look pretty when they cry," he said conversationally. "I like it when you smile."  
  
"What's this?" she managed to choke out through her tears.  
  
"A candy," he replied. "I'll take it away if you don't stop crying."  
  
With a grin, she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. Fumbling a little, she managed to unwrap it and found herself with a small, velvet box. Upon opening it, Kari found a diamond ring. She looked back up at him.  
  
"I promised you I'd come back," TK reminded her.  
  
"And I promised to wait," she added.  
  
"Well it seems that we're running a little behind schedule," he said, looking down at his watch. "Nine-thirty pm. Do you think we'd make it to the church, complete the ceremony and sign the necessary documents before twelve?"  
  
"It depends," she replied from her end. "On whether or not you can convince me."  
  
"Twenty years ago," he began, eyes never leaving hers. "My mother said that girls are prettiest when they smile. Twenty years later, I'm standing here with a woman who can prove that statement wrong. You look beautiful even when you're crying."  
  
"So are you saying I should cry more often?"  
  
"Of course not." He smiled at her. "I promise I'll never give you a reason to cry again. Will you marry me Kari?"  
  
The answer was obvious, from the look on her face. Dignity be damned, she practically flew across the court and into his arms. By then, the tears that were shed were ones of bliss and joy. He held her tightly.  
  
"I guess I'll take that as a yes?" he whispered into her ear.  
  
"Of course it's a yes," she whispered back. "Of course I'll marry you."  
  
---- End ----  
  
A/N:  
  
Nice a sweet, nee? I know this fic was short, but what can you make of a three-minute music clip? Oh well, I hope you enjoyed this ficcie while it lasted!  
  
REVIEW!  
  
Bittersweet Angel Chika 


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